Asymmetrical Information

We don't agree with the article. Or do we? Speak for yourself! I'm trying to.

Fine as May wine.

It's not just schizophrenia. It would be interesting to see estimates of the proportion of top mathematicians that are not autism spectrum, obsessive/compulsive or schizophrenic - my guess would be under 50%. Check out any engineering or math department, and you'll see a lot of autism-spectrum behavior.

I saw a presentation by Temple Grandin once (an autistic woman who's the world's leading expert on designing cattle shutes, and who helped McDonalds design systems to measure whether slaughter-houses were killing cattle in a 'humane' way). She said that it was nice that the government had a special agency to provide jobs for people with autism and then showed a picture of a NASA building.

Having recently watched the early rounds of American Idol, I was also struck with the number of the funniest, most hopeless, most ridiculous cases that seemed at least somewhat autistic. Perhaps that was part of the reason why they genuinely thought that they were good (or at least why they were more willing to risk the embarrassment in order to take a shot).

That's not all. Creativity is also linked to schizophrenia and researchers have suggested that schizophrenia remains so prevalent in our gene pool "because of the superior mating success of creative people who are schizotypic."

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2005/12/virile-artists-to-blame-for.html

I'm not sure what to think about the statement that "a tendency towards violence or recklessness was directly related to having more sexual partners" but, just in case, I would like to mention that I have been known to run with scissors and to go outside without a hat.

Ann:

Your comment on the number of oblivious types on AI was interesting. I've always wondered why it seems that they've had so few 'middle of the road' singers, just really good ones and really, really bad ones.

Turns out they select for obliviousness in the intermediate talent judging.

http://www.votefortheworst.com/node/33

"There really is a fine line between genius and insanity."

At least that's what the voices in my head keep telling me.

"There really is a fine line between genius and insanity."

However, this doesn't mean that you're a genius because people call you nuts. No matter what the voices in my head say...

This has been suspected for decades. The head of Dorothea Dix, a famous psychiatric hospital in North Carolina, used to claim that he had more high school valedictorians on his 'campus' than the Chancellor of the University of North Carolina had on his.

BTW, Rex: it's a popular misunderstanding that 'schizophrenia' means 'split personality'. The two conditions are not similar.

No matter what the voices in my head say...

I dunno. It's not like those voices to lie to me -- we're on very good terms.

Klug:

"Your comment on the number of oblivious types on AI was interesting. I've always wondered why it seems that they've had so few 'middle of the road' singers, just really good ones and really, really bad ones."

You know, maybe its the way I spend my leisure time, but I had to read this three or four times before I realized that I hadn't missed the singers on Asymmetrical Information...

*it's*

PIMF...

There is no "fine line." The conditions overlap. I have known this forever, as the voices keep me well informed...

I can believe it. Inspiration is essentially information transmitted from the subconcious to the concious in a readily usable format. Schizophrenia takes it one step further and makes that format emulate sensory stimulus.

One aspect of genius is that one is able to make connections between barely related things and thus synthesise new theories, products, relations, etc.

Turn that ability up a notch and you have paranoid skitzo behaviour, where connections are made between actually unrelated things, leading to conclusions like "my husband is helping the government steal the gold in my blood".

*Points to Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Shadow".*

I already knew that. And that's damned creepy.

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